April 6th, 1891 - Padmore Park, midafternoon

With the snow melted and the green of the park starting to spring up, Daff was able to take her free time back to the park with her sisters and sketchbook in tow. Senna was more than happy to get out of the house for some fresh air and both Daffy and Zinnia were using the opportunity to get a little sketching in. Daff did not quite possess the same level of talent that Zin did, but she enjoyed it immensely nevertheless.

Zinnia was painting the lake itself, her canvas set up, while Daffy had secured a spot near an outcrop of trees where a little patch of crocuses and jonquils had popped up. If there was something she was a sucker for, it was the fresh blooms of spring. She had a few daisies wound into her hair for just that reason. Humming to herself, Daff smiled contentedly, looking up from her sketch, over at Senna, perched perfectly close on a bench with a romance novel hidden behind a herbology text of some kind. Happiness radiated off of her sister and it softened Daffy's smile to one of fondness. Between that and seeing a young couple promenade along the walkway, the wistfulness of longing to her sigh. It brought Noble to mind and she immediately banished the thought; that was no longer hers to wish for.

"Watch out!" Echoed in her direction before her charcoal even hit the paper again, heavy footsteps thudding in her direction.

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Open! Preferably to an MCAB hurlable gent, but your girl ain't really picky. I'm just looking for some drama lol.

  

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Independent strolls through the park were a far cry from Dory's usual routine. He was too easily bored by the pleasantries of nature to enjoy the marvels of spring. He required someone to chat with, or, at the very least, a horse to ride. Anything, really, to distract from the intense loneliness that seeped in while alone in a crowded public space.

He rented a horse from the stable from the afternoon, determined to leave his flat for something other than work in days. Kissing Greengrass was perhaps his biggest mistake yet, if for no reason other than Greengrass now wielded a crippling power over him. Should he decide to even hint at what Dory had done his family would be ruined. Dory would lose his job, his flat, and, likely, his position within his family.

The continued distraction was what allowed for them to venture too close to the shrubbery on the edge of the pasture. The horse, a beautiful mare named Amaryllis, spooked at something in the bush, throwing Dory from his saddle and dashing off towards the crowd of people. He chased after it, but was too afraid of hitting a random passerby with a stunning spell to try and magically inhibit the horse.

"Watch out!" He shouted as the horse neared a small group of ladies.

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   Fortitude Greengrass

Well, that was unexpected.

The shout alerted her to the very real horse running in her direction. Daffy was not a naturally graceful person, and so her scramble to her feet had her stumbling a little, getting caught up in her own skirts. She wasn't generally leery of animals either, but when a large mare was running quite full steam in her direction, it was hard to keep one's wits together.

She could hear Senna shouting at her and things seemed to slow down as she once again tried to get to her feet to get out of the way. The sound of hooves pounding in her direction wasn't helping and she looked up, a scream stuck in her throat.

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The mare hadn't slowed, not enough for Dory to reach the women before she plowed past them. However, he also hadn't accounted for the woman running into his path, causing them both to go tumbling with Dory eventually landing beneath her. He was no stranger to being beneath beautiful women, but the sudden turn of events had him a bit stunned.

In the distance, someone stunned and caught the mare before she could run over any other innocent people.

"Are you alright?" He sincerely asked. "You have my most heartfelt apologies." Dory made no move to touch or move her, fearful of any vengeful chaperone.

  

Daff had come to her senses with barely enough time to avoid getting trampled by the horse, only to be run over instead by the gentleman chasing her. Doubly unexpected.

The landing was rough, despite being mostly cushioned, Daffy hit her head hard on the ground, stars erupting in her field of vision. Dazed and disoriented, it took a moment for her to register that she was in fact being spoken to, apologized to. It took another moment for her to realize the somewhat compromising situation she found herself in and sat up, gingerly touching her fingers to her temple, unsurprised to find it tender and bleeding. Wincing she felt the headache blossom immediately as well which in turn made her a little queasy.

Swaying a little, she put her free hand down on the ground beside her to steady herself. The last thing she needed was to get sick or fall over again.

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He needn't wait long before she rolled away from him, and instantly Dory was pushing himself up into a seated position to better gauge her injuries. There was a small river of blood running down the side of her face, seemingly starting at her temples. Oh, fuck. Perhaps it would've been better if the horse had run her down, for then her injuries wouldn't be a direct fault of his. Well, they still would be seeing as it was his horse that ran her down, but less so because it wasn't his body that had.

Fuck.

Dory reached into his pocket and handed her his handkerchief. Another sentimental object of his likely to go missing — this time a gift from Xena as opposed to his late mother — but as he had no others on his person a required sacrifice. "Here, hold that to your head," he instructed her as he looked about for her companions. Someone had to be responsible for her, right?

However, she soon started swaying and he reached out with both hands on her upper arms to steady her. "Miss, do you have a chaperone? I believe it would be in your best interest to visit the hospital." Dory said cautiously, his grip on her light but firm enough to keep her from collapsing.

Little did he know he too was bleeding through a nasty gash on his arm, blood staining her dress where it landed.

  

Perhaps the incident had rattled her a little more than she'd first realized. Daffy looked up, surprised still by the fact that she could tell she was being spoken to, but lacked the utter focus to really recognize what it was that was being said to her.

She winced visibly as something was pressed against her tender head and Daff blinked away some involuntary tears as she brought her own hand up to ease the pressure. "My sis-" She began to say, the panic of wondering where Senna and Zinnia were, if they were alright. She looked around frantically, but that was her first mistake, it made her instantly woozy. Her grip on the handkerchief loosened and she pulled it away for a moment, but the sight of the blood did her in. Daffy was not normally a lady with a weak constitution, but everything had happened so fast and the world around her was spinning. She looked up helplessly at the gentleman who sat beside her without truly seeing him, everything fading out and she lost consciousness and slumped sideways.

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A sister. Okay, he could work with a sister as a chaperone. Only, where was this sister? And, more importantly, could she help him with the nearly faint-

Fuck.

His hands were already upon her arms to steady her, which made catching her as she fainted an easy feat. Gently, he held her in a strange position, frantically looking about for this sister of hers. Except, no other doe eyed women came running to her aid. And this woman needed emergency care now.

Banking on her remaining unconscious, Dory tightened his grip upon her and apparated them both to the familiar halls of St. Mungo's. He would have gone to Hogsmeade Hospital, except he wasn't as familiar with that entrance hall and didn't dare risk splinching a woman he had already wounded once. "Help!" He called out, looking for the nearest healer to aid the woman.

  

Everything was hazy and she was disoriented— and not in the good way she was more familiar with. The last thing Daffy remembered was seeing the blood from the handkerchief and then, oh! When she came to, she was laying in a hospital bed, the bright lights of the room hurting her eyes, her head throbbing as she reached up to touch the bandage there gingerly.

"Ow," She muttered, feeling the whole scenario catch up to her as she remembered just what had happened. The horse, the gentleman in the park, everything had gone chaotic and fast. She tried to sit up and immediately regretted it, gasping quietly as her body protested the movements. Where were Senna and Zinnia? Were they okay? Zin hadn't been sitting far from where Daff had positioned herself.

Wincing she looked around the room, instinct telling her she was at the hospital, that's when she finally noticed him, the man from the park who had gotten her out of the way from the horse. "What happened?" She managed, realizing her throat was dry and her voice a little hoarse from the effort.

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As the certified accident prone member of his family (aside from Julian's obvious misfortune) Dory spent more time in hospital beds than he would ever admit to. He was intimately familar with the disorientation, the pain, the steadfast determination to go home. It was almost second nature to him. However, he rarely had the experience of waiting on the other side. He didn't know how to pass the time in an efficient manner, or at least in a manner that made the waiting bearable.

He paced for a good ten minutes, pausing every so often to examine the rather pretty woman and if she had awoken yet. Then, when pacing began to be too much he sat in the chair furthest from the bed (lest anyone think something of their relationship) and tapped his foot repeatedly. And finally, when the foot tapping could be sustained no longer he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and began to toy with his hair.

Finally, after what had to have been six hours but was likely only one, she began to stir. "Easy does it," Dory instructed gently, sitting up straight in his chair. "You're at St. Mungo's in London. You had a hard fall and hit your head, but you'll be alright. The healers said you'll just have to take it easy for a few days, Miss ..."

  

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beautiful set by lady

Daff closed her eyes again and somewhat relaxed against the pillows. "Potts, Daffodil." The headache was almost blinding and she had to wonder if there was a healer somewhere nearby with some ice or a potion for the splitting pain in her head.

"My sisters, they were nearby..." Though St. Mungo's, that didn't make a whole lot of sense to her. "How did I get here, Mr..?" It wasn't the logical choice, not for proximity anyway, though perhaps in the chaos of the moment, it had made the most sense to the gentleman across from her, if he was indeed the one to bring her. That one made sense, at least, but she figured, she would clarify just in case the bump to the head was worse than described (she doubted it, her head was killing her).

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"Fisk," he supplied immediately. "Dorian Fisk." If her sisters had been nearby, why hadn't they come running when she had passed out in his arms? No sibling of his was capable of ignoring the commotion of a loose horse and an unconscious woman, except perhaps Leo. And even Leo was more observant than he usually let on.

"You lost consciousness in my arms, Miss Potts. When no one came to help I brought us here to St. Mungo's. I apologize for taking you so far from Hogsmeade, but the risk of splinching was less here."

  

Oh well that would explain it. Daff was not one prone to fainting, but she was also not great with blood, especially her own. "No, no, it's fine, I truly appreciate your assistance Mr. Fisk." Daff replied earnestly. "My sister, Zinnia, was sitting just on the other side of me, she may have been in the horse's path." If Senna had reached Zin first, or Zinnia was more injured, that would have explained how she had suddenly become Mr. Fisk's responsibility.

"It's quite alright, my eldest sister is a healer in Hogsmeade, I cannot imagine the fuss she is raising over my other sisters right now." Besides, Daff was fine, just one hell of a headache. It would be better if nobody was going to fret frightfully over her. She would write as soon as things were settled here.

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Oh Merlin, he hoped her sisters hadn't been trampled. Informing her parents of his bold actions was already going to be difficult without the added complication of having caused harm to her sisters. (Not that Dory was much concerned what her parents thought of him, but rather he simply didn't wish to have to deal with any outrage.) "I must confess I didn't notice if the horse injured anyone else," he admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"A proper fuss, I'd imagine." Dory wasn't a huge fan of his siblings knowing he was in the hospital, either, but it had to be different with women. "Would you like me to send a note to your parents?"

  

"I'm sure it's fine, Amaryllis is very capable." Her sister was the most big sister there was to look out for six younger siblings. If that is where Zinnia and Senna had landed, they were in good hands.

"Are you alright?" Daff realized she had yet to ask. He had taken the brunt of the fall after getting her out of the way after all. He appeared alright, but she couldn't sit up well enough to really look at him properly. Her head swam with the softest movement. Daff was sure once somebody from the hospital staff came in and saw her awake they would get enough details to send her parents a message, Mr. Fisk needn't worry about that.

Thankfully he was, she found out over the next hour or so while she monopolized his time until her mother finally found her. That was something to explain in and of itself.

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